FRQNT STRATEGIA grant awarded to Cirris team

A Cirris team led by Benoit Gosselin, and also including researchers Véronique Flamand, François Routhier, Alexandre Campeau-Lecours and Édith Martin, was recently awarded a STRATÉGIA grant from the Fonds de recherche du Québec – Nature et technologies (FRQNT) worth a total of $1,125,000 over 3 years for their project “MAIN: Myo-prothèse à Apprentissage Interactif et Neuro-renforcement”.

The STRATÉGIA initiative is part of the SQRI2 2022-2027 and the FRQNT Strategic Plan 2022-2025. Its main aim is to drive sustainable innovation in key economic sectors, by increasing research capacity tenfold, supporting the next generation of researchers, and generating significant spin-offs for Quebec.

About the project

Myoelectric hand prostheses enable people with upper-limb amputations to regain their abilities and independence in everyday life. However, the products currently on the market are very expensive, often uncomfortable, and still counter-intuitive, which greatly limits their positive impact.

The MAIN project aims to design the first intelligent hand prosthesis technology based on HD-EMG myoelectric sensors exploiting interactive deep learning. In addition to enhancing the user experience by compensating for their disabilities in a natural way, interactive learning combined with an on-board HD-EMG sensor platform will enhance users’ neuromuscular capabilities and fully exploit the capacities of their residual limbs, beyond current limits.

This project brings together international experts from five FRQ-NT strategic clusters (UNIQUE, ReSMiQ, INTER, REPARTI, CQMF), an FRQ-S network and center (REPAR and Cirris), two college technology transfer centers (TOPMED and Groupe CTT), public and industrial partners (CIUSSS-CN and BIO6), and four university research chairs (two Canada Chairs and two Canada-CIFAR Chairs). The team brings together world-renowned complementary expertise in biomedical engineering, clinical rehabilitation, artificial intelligence (AI), robotics and materials science to create a new intelligent myoelectric prosthesis technology that will revolutionize current approaches and transform healthcare in Quebec and around the world.